Protective headgear for baseball fielders

Abstract

The specification describes a protective apparatus for use by baseball fielders. The protective apparatus is a helmet having a cap portion and a faceguard. The helmet is designed to protect against injuries caused by thrown or batted balls to the head and face of the fielder. The faceguard protects against injuries to the eyes, nose, mouth, chin, teeth, jaws, facial bones and the temporal regions of the head. In a preferred embodiment the helmet is designed for protection of both batters and fielders.

I claim: 
     
       1. A protective helmet for use by fielders while fielding or catching balls comprising a cap portion substantially in the shape of a baseball cap having a visor and a head covering for covering for the head above the ears, a protective faceguard attached to each side of the helmet at points on the rear half of the cap portion so that the faceguard is adapted to extend past the temporal regions of the head of the wearer and encircle the face of the wearer, said faceguard comprising a nose protective bar adapted to shield a portion of the nose and eyes of the wearer, and a mouth protective bar adapted to shield the mouth of the wearer, means for fixing the spacing between the nose protective bar and mouth protective bar, and a chin guard adapted to engage the chin of the wearer, and being attached to the faceguard on each side of the faceguard so that the spacing between the chin guard and mouth protective bar is fixed whereby when the protective helmet is worn the chin, mouth, nose, eyes and the temporal areas of the wearer are protected against impact by a ball during the fielding or catching thereof. 
     
     
       2. The protective helmet of claim 1 wherein the faceguard is rotatably mounted on the cap portion so as to be movable in a rotational direction toward the said visor of the cap portion from the active position in front of the face of the wearer to an inactive position abutting said visor. 
     
     
       3. The protective helmet of claim 2 further including means for restricting the rotation of the faceguard with respect to the visor of the cap portion in a rotational direction away from the visor of the cap portion. 
     
     
       4. The protective helmet of claim 1 wherein the faceguard is fixedly attached to the cap portion. 
     
     
       5. The protective helmet of claim 1 wherein the cap portion and the faceguard are constructed of plastic. 
     
     
       6. The protective helmet of claim 5 where in the chin guard is constructed of plastic. 
     
     
       7. The protective helmet of claim 1 wherein the chin guard is attached with a chin strap to the mouth protective bar of the faceguard at points adjacent the cheeks of the wearer. 
     
     
       8. The protective helmet of claim 7 further including means for adjusting the length of the chin strap. 
     
     
       9. The protective helmet of claim 1 wherein the faceguard is removable from the cap portion. 
     
     
       10. The protective helmet of claim 1 wherein the cap portion further includes at least one ear guard portion extending from the side of the cap portion and adapted to cover at least one ear of the wearer. 
     
     
       11. The protective helmet of claim 9 wherein the faceguard is made of a material that allows it to flex and said faceguard and said cap portion include attachment means for snap fitting the faceguard to the cap portion. 
     
     
       12. The protective helmet of claim 11 wherein the attachment means includes means for attaching the faceguard to the cap portion at more than one position. 
     
     
       13. The protective helmet of claim 1 wherein the faceguard is rotatably mounted on the cap portion so as to be movable in a rotational direction from an active position in front of the face of the wearer to a rest position with the faceguard resting on the visor of the cap. 
     
     
       14. The protective helmet of claim 13 wherein the faceguard is rotatably movable through at least 270 degrees.